These A* Level UK Government and Politics notes offer a thorough and well-organized overview of all essential topics. They cover the structure and functions of the UK political system, including Parliament, the Prime Minister, and the judiciary, as well as the ideologies and dynamics of major polit...
● Rejection of the state
● Liberty
● Anarchy is order
● Economic freedom
● Utopianism
Rejection of state
● This is considered the core anarchist value
● Authority , power to control others , is an offense against freedom and equality
● Authority enslaves those who are subjected to it —> also corrupts those who wield it.
“Absolute power corrupts absolutely.”
● The state is the ultimate political authority which is uses to subordinate people
● They reject conventional political participation as they see it as an illusion
● They believe in their own types of institutions —> groups , “unions of sovereign
individuals”
Rejection of the state extended
● They believe in the three C’s about the state
○ Commanding —> forces you to act in involuntary ways
○ Controlling —> stop people being able to fully express themself
○ Corrupting —> all those with power will be corrupted. A subordinate was
brutalized.
Quotes about state rejection :
"The state calls its own violence law, but that of the individual crime." - Max Stirner
Liberty
● Directly translates to freedom.
● They want freedom from the control of influence of the state or other institutions
● Individualist anarchists —> freedom means to be autonomous and to explore one’s
individuality
● Collectivist anarchists —> believe liberty can only exist where there is complete equality
if everyone has an equal economic position.
Anarchy is order
● They believe that once a state or government is removed —> natural order will occur.
, ● They have a very good view on human nature and believe that all individuals are social,
cooperative and rational
● They believe that removing the state will encourage corporations, rationalism and
socialization and they will interact voluntarily.
● The main point of criticism —> they believe that order will occur WITHOUT a state, laws
or government. They argue that the state ushers violence, oppression and other evils
into existence.
Quotes about anarchism being order
"Anarchism is the great liberator of man from the phantoms that have held him
captive; it is the arbiter and pacifier of the two forces for individual and social
harmony.” - Peter Kroptokin
Economic freedom
● The main source of tension between collectivists and Individualists
● Collectivists dislike property, ownership and inequality —> socialist views
● Individualist defend private property and competitive capitalism —> anarcho-capitalists
favor full free marketism
● They all dislike state intervention and prefer an economy without state regulation.
Economic freedom quotes "Property is theft!” - Proudhon
Utopianism
● They believe that an ideal society can be achieved —> against all other ideas bar
socialism maybe…
● This is due to their idea of altruism and the natural goodness of mankind
● They believe that a future anarchist state will be peaceful, harmonious and free.
● Again another point of criticism from other ideologies as they see this as unachievable
and unrealistic due to the selfish nature of human beings —> bar socialists.
COLLECTIVIST ANARCHISTS
Collectivist anarchists —> believe their work is being exploited by the system
● Collectivist anarchism has links and similarities with socialism – particularly Marxism
● Individualist anarchism has links and similarities with liberalism – particularly classical
liberalism
● Anarchism takes the ideas of these ideologies further
Collectivist anarchism ideas
, ● Rejects capitalism
● Collective ownership and communal living
● No need for political authority
● Bourgeois states and proletarian states are equally evil
● No state of any kind
● Three main strands – mutualism, anarcho-syndicalism, anarcho-communism
Mutualism
● Pierre-Joseph Proudhon (1809 – 1865)
● Believed that ‘property is theft’
● Believed in mutualism – a system of fair exchange.
● People could bargain and trade with each other to satisfy each others’ wants without
exploitation
● His followers set up mutual credit banks which charged interest on loans only to run the
bank not to make a profit
Anarcho-syndicalism
● Revolutionary trade unionism
● Conventional politics - pointless and corrupt
● The working class should take power through direct action
● Boycotts, strikes, sabotage
● Eventually a revolution would come about through a general strike
● Popular in Spain until the Civil War put an end to anarchism as a mass movement
Anarcho-Communism
● Peter Kropotkin (1842 – 1921)
● Theory of ‘mutual aid’
● Drew inspiration from the animal kingdom – successful species cooperate
● Humans are biologically wired to help each other
● Capitalism has undermined this and threatens human evolution
● State should be abolished and replaced with self-sufficient communes based on sharing
and collectivism
● Direct democracy to make decisions
INDIVIDUALIST ANARCHISTS
Individualist Anarchists —> believe the state is oppressing their right to choose what is in their
interests.
● Takes the liberal value of individualism even further
, ● Individualist anarchists believe there should be no restrictions on the freedom of the
individual
● The state is evil. Democracy, constitutions, checks and balances – are all a façade.
● Democracy / Dictatorship – both are equally evil and restrict individual liberty.
Tensions with Collectivist Anarchists
● Individualist anarchists fear that in a collective society the individual would be forced to
join a community and therefore lose their autonomy
● Abolishing private property would leave the individual in the power of the community
● Individualists also tend to support education, civil disobedience (disobeying laws and
regulations) and an evolutionary road to anarchism, rather than the revolutionary route
supported by some collectivists.
Egoists
● Associated with Max Stirner (1806 – 1856)
● An extreme form of individualism
● The individual is at the center of the moral universe
● Individuals should act as they choose – not obey laws, social conventions, religious and
moral values
● This is a type of nihilism – a belief in nothing, a rejection of all moral values and
principles
● Society would be based on voluntary agreements which benefit the individual
Anarcho-Capitalism
● Extreme form of classical liberal / free-market economics
● An unregulated market can satisfy all human needs and can replace government
● All services provided by government should be handed over to the free market
● E.g protection can be delivered by private police, courts and prisons
● Competition would provide choice and better services than those run by the state
Roads to Anarchism
● Anarchists do not believe in political parties, elections, or government
● Any attempt to win power or influence government is seen as corrupting
Revolutionary Violence
● Some anarchists have engaged in terrorism and violence to spark revolution
● Many prominent people were assassinated by anarchists in the late 19th century
● In the 1970s anarchist groups such as Baader-Meinhof (Germany) and the Angry
Brigade (UK) carried out terrorist acts such as bombings
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